


Something Gold

by superqueerdanvers



Series: Flashes Like Camera Bulbs [3]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: (but kind of bittersweet), Breakfast, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic, Fluff, Multi, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26601802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superqueerdanvers/pseuds/superqueerdanvers
Summary: Oliver woke with a gasp. For a moment, he just stared at the ceiling, frantic heart rate slowing as the images of veins faded from his mind. Then he glanced around the dimly moonlit room. On his right, Gerry still slept soundly, mouth slightly open, one hand resting on Oliver’s chest. On his left, Michael was quietly playing Cat’s Cradle – or at least, tying knots in a piece of string.This takes place after "If That Was Me, Then Who Am I?" and before "And So Gerard Keay Ended," but you don't need to have read either of those for this to make sense.
Relationships: Oliver Banks/Gerard Keay/Michael | The Distortion
Series: Flashes Like Camera Bulbs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926604
Comments: 7
Kudos: 24





	Something Gold

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a reference to the Robert Frost poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay."

Oliver woke with a gasp. For a moment, he just stared at the ceiling, frantic heart rate slowing as the images of veins faded from his mind. Then he glanced around the dimly moonlit room. On his right, Gerry still slept soundly, mouth slightly open, one hand resting on Oliver’s chest. On his left, Michael was quietly playing Cat’s Cradle – or at least, tying knots in a piece of string. He didn’t sleep, but he still liked to cuddle and lie in bed with Gerry and Oliver. He met Oliver’s eyes and smiled.

“Time?” Oliver mouthed.

Michael shifted to let him see the alarm clock’s glowing red numbers. 3:17. Great. There was no way in hell he was going back to sleep tonight, and it’d be another three or four hours before Gerry was up. He sighed.

Michael rolled over to whisper in his ear. “Want to watch TV?”

Oliver hesitated, then nodded. They could keep the volume low, and Gerry would know where to find them when he woke up. He slipped out of bed after Michael, gently resettling Gerry’s hand on his pillow.

Michael led the way to the living room and turned on the TV. After flipping channels for a few minutes, they settled on a Doctor Who rerun. Michael put an arm around Oliver, and Oliver leaned into him gratefully. Watching the Doctor reprogram tiny golden nanogenes and save the day, Oliver could feel his body relax and breathing slow.

As one episode bled into the next, Oliver’s eyes began to drift closed. Michael held him close, and he dozed. He wasn’t asleep, not fully anyway – not enough to dream. Not enough to see the creeping tendrils of death. But he wasn’t really awake either, and sometimes that was as good as it got.

Eventually, Michael shifted position, and Oliver opened his eyes. “Sorry,” Michael whispered. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“It’s okay. I wasn’t really asleep.” Oliver blinked and sat up, squinting at the pale light beginning to peak through the window. “And Gerry’ll be up soon anyway.”

“I’ll make you breakfast!” Michael said brightly.

Oliver bit back a laugh. “Last time you tried to cook unsupervised, you blew up the microwave! But making breakfast for Gerry is a good idea; let’s do it together.”

* * *

Gerry woke to an empty bed and the smell of bacon. He made his way to the kitchen and found Oliver stood at the stove, cooking bacon as best he could with Michael draped over him. Michael’s arms were around his waist, and he was bending over to rest his chin on Oliver’s shoulder. When Gerry came into the room, he straightened to his full over-seven-foot height, turned around, and beamed at him. “Gerry!”

Gerry grinned and stood on his tiptoes as Michael bent to kiss him. “Morning.”

Michael effortlessly scooped him up and deposited him in a chair at the table. There were three place settings, each with toast, scrambled eggs, and orange juice. Michael sat down beside him, and Oliver brought over the bacon. As Oliver sat down, Gerry took his hand. “Dreams again?” he said softly.

He nodded, mouth going tight. Gerry kissed his hand. “I’m sorry.”

Gerry didn’t elaborate and knew better than to press for more. Oliver was losing more and more sleep to the dreams lately, but interrogating him wouldn’t help, and he would tell him if anything changed. Better to just enjoy the breakfast.

And it was a good breakfast, even if there were a few bits of shell in the eggs – probably Michael’s doing, judging by the raw egg in his eyebrow. Oh well, they still tasted good, and the bacon was perfectly crispy.

Every so often, Gerry and Oliver swiped bites from Michael’s plate. “One of these days I’m just going to get you a set of toy food,” Gerry commented. “So you can have something on your plate that we don’t have to eat for you or throw away.”

Oliver looked at Michael, thinking. “What would happen if you just threw the food into your corridors? That’s basically eating for you, right?”

“Toast can’t feel fear,” Gerry pointed out. “So it’d just rot.”

Michael gasped. “As if I would allow the Corruption into my corridors!”

“So it’d just sit there getting stale forever,” Oliver said, starting to grin.

“Honestly not sure that’s much better.” Gerry’s tone was dry, but he couldn’t completely hide his smile.

Michael grinned. “Eternal toast!”

“Eternal _scrambled eggs_ ,” Gerry said with a grimace.

“The only thing that can escape the End: food in Michael’s corridors.” Oliver laughed, and Gerry’s heart felt warm.

Maybe the dreams were getting worse. Maybe the End’s veins were tapping at the windows. Maybe Oliver was getting closer and closer to becoming a full-fledged avatar. But for now, the veins were staying out of their flat, and Oliver and Gerry and Michael were together, eating breakfast and laughing as the rising sun painted the kitchen gold. That would have to be enough.


End file.
